Related papers: Enhancing one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulat…
High-power magnetically shielded Hall thrusters have recently emerged to meet the needs of the next-generation space missions. Even though a few such thrusters are currently undergoing their late-stage development campaigns, many unanswered…
Reduced-order particle-in-cell (PIC) scheme is a novel modeling approach that enables computationally efficient electrostatic kinetic simulations of plasma. In our previous publications, we demonstrated the potentials of a preliminary…
In this article, we present an in-depth verification of the generalized electrostatic reduced-order particle-in-cell (PIC) scheme in a cross electric and magnetic field configuration representative of a radial-azimuthal section of a Hall…
Cross-field electron transport in Hall thrusters is widely attributed to high-frequency $E\times B$ instabilities, yet its net spatial pathway remains poorly resolved. Here we perform instability-resolving three-dimensional particle-in-cell…
Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are employed to investigate electron transport characteristics in Hall thrusters, with particular focus on how magnetic field configuration affects the electron transport due to electron drift…
To fully characterize electron drift instability, a critical phenomenon governing electron transport in Hall thrusters, large-scale three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are essential, as the instability inherently…
In this article, we introduce a novel dimensionality reduction formulation for the Poisson's equation in the Vlasov-Poisson system that yields a reduced-order particle-in-cell scheme. This scheme allows a remarkable reduction in the…
An axial-azimuthal two-dimensional Hall thruster discharge model was developed for analyzing gradient drift instability (GDI) and cross-field electron transport enhancement induced solely by the GDI. A hybrid particle-fluid model was used…
The dynamics of the neutral atoms in Hall thrusters affect several plasma processes, from the ionization to the electrons' mobility. In the context of Hall thruster's particle-in-cell (PIC) modeling, the neutrals are often treated…
The Particle-in-Cell (PIC) method was used to study two different ion thruster concepts - Stationary Plasma Thrusters (SPT) and High Efficiency Multistage Plasma Thrusters (HEMP-T), in particular the plasma properties in the discharge…
We present particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of minority energetic protons in deuterium plasmas, which demonstrate a collective instability responsible for emission near the lower hybrid frequency and its harmonics. The simulations capture…
By means of hybrid multi-particle collsion--particle-in-cell (MPC-PIC) simulations we study the dynamical scaling of energy and density correlations at equilibrium in moderately coupled 2D and quasi 1D plasmas. We find that the predictions…
First-principles particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation is a powerful tool for understanding plasma behavior, but this power often comes at great computational expense. Artificially reducing the ion/electron mass ratio is a time-honored practice…
We use particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of a collisionless, electron-ion plasma with a decreasing background magnetic field, $B$, to study the effect of velocity-space instabilities on the viscous heating and thermal conduction of the…
For the SPT-type Hall thrusters, the magnetic structure with magnetic conductive columns leads inherent to azimuthally inhomogeneous magnetic configurations. This azimuthal magnetic inhomogeneity may impact electron azimuthal closed-drift…
We carry out Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations to study the instabilities associated with a 2-D sheared electron flow configuration against a neutralizing background of ions. Both weak and strong relativistic flow velocities are…
A two-dimensional simulation is conducted to investigate the effect of cross-field electron transport enhancement in the Hall thruster discharge caused by the nonuniform propellant supply in azimuth. The Hall thruster operation with…
Across many plasma applications, the underlying phenomena and interactions among the involved processes are known to exhibit three-dimensional characteristics. Furthermore, the global properties and evolution of plasma systems are often…
The Weibel instability is investigated with PIC simulations of an initially unmagnetized and spatially uniform electron plasma. This instability, which is driven by the thermally anisotropic electron distribution, generates electromagnetic…
An instability driven by the thermal anisotropy of a single electron species is investigated in a 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. This instability is the one considered by Weibel and it differs from the beam driven filamentation…